The demographics of heroin use and overdose have drastically evolved since it’s adventitial American epidemic in the 1960’s. Cities were fraught with heroin addiction and the constitutive health and crime trends that followed. Criminal justice policy responded with draconian drug laws, such as mandatory minimum sentences up to life in prison for selling once ounce of heroin. Shortly thereafter, the nation’s prisons experienced a flux of non-violent drug offenders, mostly young black men. These trends characterize our current War on Drugs. Over the past four decades, efforts have been made to reframe addiction as a public health issue rather than a criminal offense, however these have been largely unsuccessful. However, recent trends among contemporary heroin users are forcing politicians and drug policy makers to reconsider.

Reference: http://www.retroreport.org/video/heroin-and-the-war-on-drugs/